Orion never had a sword like this.
As Comet
C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) heads out of the inner Solar System,
it is putting on quite a
show for long exposure cameras.
Currently
seen toward the
constellation of
Orion the Hunter, the distant
Orion Nebula
is visible on the upper right.
Comet R3 PanSTARRS
is now showing
two distinct tails: a short
dust tail pointing toward the top of the image
and a long and
wavy ion tail
trailing off toward the upper left.
The
ion tail points away from the
Sun and
glows blue from excited
carbon monoxide.
Large particles in the dust tail somewhat
resist the radiation pressure that push them away from the Sun and so retain a bit of the comet's orbit.
The
dust tail shines by
reflected sunlight.
The
featured image was taken a few days ago from
France's
Reunion Island
in the southern
Indian Ocean.